This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to join Maurice Lacroix and TimeZone.com at the SwissWatch fair in Las Vegas. I received the invitation to this event on Sunday May 25th at 9:45pm, five days before I was to leave. Luckily, I have an amazing and supportive wife who shares my passion for watches and she was excited for me. So, off I went!

Once I arrived at the Maurice Lacroix suite at the Mandalay Bay along with my fellow invitees, we were greeted by an enthusiastic and energetic Hartmut Kraft, otherwise known as "H", the president of ML North America. It was made known to all of the guests immediately upon arrival that this event was not just for Maurice Lacroix, it was to share the passion of all watches.

The guest list was a fun and diverse group with an equally wide range of wristporn. Audemars Piguet, Glashutte Original, Patek Phillipe, Panerai, Rolex, Grand Seiko, IWC, Sinn and, of course, Maurice Lacroix were all represented very well. What was probably the best part of this is that each person had a great story to tell about why they purchased the watch they were wearing and why they chose to wear it to the event. It was blatantly obvious that we all shared the same passion.

It was an interesting experience to see Maurice Lacroix's entire line of watches all at once, including the new pieces released at Baselworld. The star of the show was the Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece Gravity. Maurice Lacroix has made their own movements for a while now but the Gravity introduced their own escapement that utilizes a silicon escape wheel and pallet lever. That means that no oils need to be used as silicon is self lubricating. Really cool stuff. Not to mention that the Gravity is a stunningly beautiful watch.

Sandro Reginelli, the Chief of Product and R&D at Maurice Lacroix was there to give us an inside look at the design an manufacture of their line of watches. This was a real treat as both Sandro & "H" believe in transparency when it comes to the watches they produce. We discussed everything from designing movements to case manufacturing and outsourcing. They don't believe in the mantra of, "We hide what everyone already knows", that you see with many watch companies, which was refreshing.

After discussing the offerings from Maurice Lacroix we went to our private dinner, a seven course chef's tasting menu complete with wine & champagne pairings. This was all accompanied by great conversation with everyone in attendance.

Once we were plenty full from dinner, we proceeded to the race track for some go kart racing with the winner to receive a Maurice Lacroix chronograph! Unfortunately, I did not come out the victor but I still had a great time.

You might have thought the night would end there, but this is Vegas so, it definitely did not...

My most sincere thanks to Hartmut, Sandro, & Lydia for their efforts and their generosity. This was an experience I will never forget. I enjoyed meeting everyone who attended and I hope to see you all again some time soon.